Russia Catches Belarus On Smuggling Of Prohibited Products Again

The Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance got suspicious in connection with the growth of supplies of vegetables and fruit, which have allegedly been grown in a number of countries in Asia and Africa, by Belarus.

The Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance once again suspected Belarus of re-export of products which are banned in the Russian Federation. This time, these suspicions are connected with a sharp growth of supplies of vegetables and fruit, which are claimed to have been grown in a number of countries in Asia and Africa.

Due to the above, the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance addressed to the Russian Embassies in Afghanistan, Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Lebanon, Mali, Syria and the Central African Republic with a request to assist in obtaining information about the actual volumes of exports to Russia, Belarus and the countries of the European Union's fruit and vegetable products grown in these countries, as well as the logistics peculiarities of supply thereof, interfax.ru. writes.

This enquiry is connected with a large number of revealed falsified phytosanitary certificates. The Federal Service does not exclude that vegetables and fruit form the EU countries which got under the Russian food embargo were supplied to the Russian Federation, disguised as African products.

After the introduction of the restrictions by Russia (August 2014), Belarus has become a major exporter and re-exporter of many kinds of products, including tomatoes and pears. If in 2013, Belarus imported 80 thousand tons of tomatoes, then in 2015, the deliveries increased by almost a half, up to 144 thousand tons, which allegedly happened "due to a sharp increase in supplies from Egypt, Morocco, Turkey, Israel, Bosnia and Herzegovina."

In 2015, the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance revealed 323 Turkish and Moroccan fake phytosanitary certificates, which showed mass attempts to deliver the prohibited tomatoes to the territory of the Russian Federation, and the lack of proper control over the import thereof to Belarus.

Following the introduction of the ban on the supply of fruit and vegetables from Turkey in January this year, Belarus became the largest buyer of Turkish tomatoes. Their supplies in the first 8 months of this year have increased almost four times - from 17 thousand to 64 thousand tons compared to the same period last year, according to the National Statistics Committee of Belarus. Simultaneously, shipments of tomatoes allegedly from the countries of tropical Africa and the Middle East started arriving to Belarus. These products were re-exported to Russia.

According to the Federal State Information System "Argus-Phyto", 81 thousand tons of tomatoes were shipped from Belarus to the Russian Federation for 10 months of this year. 59 thousand tons of them, according to the accompanying documents, were of the Belarusian origin.